Support the Troops? When?

Maybe we need to hold a bake sale to get these people reimbursed money they shouldn't have had to spend in the first place. I'd like to hear from Bill Roe on this.
From Marine Corps Times but here's the text: ( Marine Corps Times is an independent newspaper owned by Gannett.)
September 29, 2005
Senator: DoD should be ordered to reimburse body-armor costs
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Tired of waiting for the Pentagon to launch an authorized program to reimburse troops who buy their own personal protective gear for combat deployments, the chief congressional sponsor of the program wants to wrest control of it from defense officials.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., attached a provision to last year’s defense authorization bill authorizing — but not requiring — the Defense Department to reimburse troops up to $1,100 for the expense of body armor and other protective gear and health and safety equipment not provided by the military.
The Pentagon has never paid a dime. Defense officials have said in letters to Dodd that they are still working on the regulations, and that part of the delay is the result of responsibility passing between various offices. Pentagon insiders said a final regulation that would allow reimbursement to begin immediately has been drafted but has not been approved by all the services.
At a Thursday news conference, Dodd said he is not sure why it is taking so long and wonders whether the Pentagon intends to actually reimburse anyone.
“The administration is either showing complete incompetence or utter indifference,” he said. “It feels as if I am getting a rope-a-dope with them, hoping I would go away.”
Dodd apologized to service members, their family and friends for the delay and vowed to try to get a provision attached to another defense bill — probably the 2006 defense appropriations bill — ordering reimbursement and putting unit commanders, not Pentagon officials, in charge.
Dodd said he trusted military commanders to ensure troops are reimbursed for buying necessary safety equipment.
Appearing with Dodd at the news conference was Marine Sgt. Todd Bowers, now a reservist attending college who pulled two tours in Iraq. On his last deployment, Bowers said he was fired on by a sniper but saved by equipment — a rifle scope hit by the sniper bullet and goggles that protected his eyes from shrapnel — that were not supplied by the Marine Corps.
Bowers bought the goggles for about $100, and his father bought the scope for about $600.
Dodd has the backing of major military and veterans’ groups.
“We share your disappointment that the Defense Department still has not implemented it 11 months after it was enacted,” said retired Vice Adm. Norbert Ryan Jr., president of the Military Officers Association of America.
Retired Army Master Sgt. Michael Cline, executive director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, said the Pentagon’s refusal to pay is hard to understand, given the 91-0 vote by the Senate last year in favor of Dodd’s original proposal.
Noting the ongoing stream of casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cline said the military should support any effort to get more protection to troops.
“How many of those killed could have been saved with the proper equipment?” Cline said.